


Drawing the Circle

by Estirose



Category: GARO Makai Senki
Genre: Gen, Jossed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-13
Updated: 2012-02-15
Packaged: 2017-10-31 03:18:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/339288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estirose/pseuds/Estirose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes the worst punishment can be what you always dreamed of. (Spoilers end of 18; likely AU for events of 19.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> When I saw what happened with Leo at the end of 18, I got inspired to write fic. This follows "Naught but a Squire", but you don't have to have read that to understand this.

It had not been an easy day, but Leo hadn't been expecting that. When he'd run off after Ratess - and as he'd suspected, his brother - he'd grabbed the sword nearby, one that technically belonged to an inactive Knight. He knew it was wrong, but he'd done it anyway.

It had taken much explaining to clear his name, and he knew that Kouga had done his part, for which he was grateful. But he knew that he had to answer for stealing the sword, and for using it to summon the armor. For a priest to overstep his bounds... well, he didn't know the punishment, but it was well-deserved, no matter how wonderful and natural it had felt to be a Knight for the minute the armor allowed.

Unlike his brother, he knew how to follow the rules. Mostly.

He'd been left to wait while the Senate discussed his fate. He'd explained what he'd done, that he'd known he'd done wrong. It was up to them to decide what to do with him. He just hoped they'd let him do what he could do to stop his brother before anything else.

Then he was summoned back in.

"Fudou Leo." Grace, the head of the senate, looked down at him, lips pursed. He kept his posture deferential. He was in the wrong, after all. "Rodo."

He glanced up, surprised. It was the title of the knight whose armor he'd worn, whispered in his mind as the armor closed around him. As the armor had accepted him.

"The one who was supposed to be Rodo died as a child," Grace said. "The armor went unworn and the sword dormant. There is nobody in the bloodline to carry on the name."

Leo forced his head down. He'd somehow guessed the history, that the bloodline wielder was dead. 

"We have decided. You will carry it instead. While Makai Knights usually don't start training as adults, it has happened before. And with so many lost to your brother's schemes...."

"I understand." He was being called as a Knight to balance out his brother's crime of destroying Knights. He was no longer a priest. He'd lost that when he'd drawn the circle and accepted the armor.

"You will continue to support Garo, Saejima Kouga, as a priest while he trains you in the ways of a Knight." She sighed, and Leo got the impression it had not been an easy discussion for her and the rest of the Senate. "Once this crisis is over, you'll finish your training as needed and take up Rodo's post."

He'd wanted to be a Knight ever since he was a little boy, and his parents had indulged his and his brother's interests in swordplay, but he'd started training as a priest. He'd never thought it was possible to become a Knight, and only kept up his knowledge of swords in order to make his Gouryu better. He wondered if he'd have to give them up, give his magic up. He probably would; it was his punishment to give up what he loved to take up what he'd chosen in a moment of panic.

"I understand." At least he wasn't banished, and at least he could make up for what his brother had done. And he could live his childhood dream. But somehow it wasn't something he was looking forward to, not at all.


	2. Chapter 2

He felt he should be jumping up and down for joy, that was the funny thing. He, Fudou Leo, was a Knight, a path that had been denied him in childhood. But he knew well what Makai Knights did, having worked with them occasionally.

And it was only likely that he was a Knight because so many of them had been killed. The senate had reluctantly made him one, and he should accept their judgment and become the best Knight he could. 

He instead packed up his gear, knowing there was a lot ahead of him. He could be a priest a little longer, at least, while trying to stop his brother. But then he'd have to take up his post. Probably he'd be assigned a priest. That wouldn't be too bad.

Walking back to the waiting area, he wasn't surprised to see Kouga there. To his surprise, Shijima Wataru was also there, and the two Knights were talking in hushed tones.

"So, you're the priest who's now a Knight," Shijima said. "Rodo." He seemed to be looking Leo over from head to toe.

Leo bowed. "Yes." He probably would have to get used to that. Knights not knowing what to make of him, and possibly blaming him for what had happened.

"I'll be training you, later on." The man seemed to nod a little.

After they finished going after his brother, he knew. That was the important part.

"I'd be honored." Leo told him. If he was going to be a Knight, he had to learn the job. He was sure that it involved a lot of physical training, some of which he had, but some of it he didn't.

Shijima inclined his head.

"Let's go," Kouga said, barely sparing a glance at him. Leo knew he'd likely make a good Makai Knight, but he knew that he was a burden at the moment. He could support Kouga best as a priest - he'd have to do most of his training under Shijima.

He followed Kouga like a duckling as they returned to Kouga's estate, and Gonza was welcoming them in. "He'll be moving in," Kouga told him.

Gonza looked surprised. "Of course. But isn't..."

"His brother is the Red-Masked Man," Kouga said. "He'll be training as a Knight."

Gonza's eyes went wide. "Of course, Master Kouga. I'll set him up with a room. Will he be staying long?"

"As long as he needs to," Kouga said. Turning to Leo, he said, "Gonza will set you up. I want to see your skills for now."

Leo bowed. He'd trained with Kouga before, but that was as a Priest helping a Knight, not as a trainee Knight. Putting his gear down, he picked up his sword, unwrapping it gingerly. He followed Kouga into a room, where Kouga barked an order for a training program of some kind.

Despite everything, Leo hoped it would be gentle on him.

It wasn't, though he had to admit, cherub-demons were far easier than fighting his own brother. Still, he knew how to use the sword, so it wasn't like he was picking it up for the first time.

He looked up when he was done. Kouga was still watching him intently, as if to pick him and his swordwork apart piece by piece.

"Where did you learn swordfighting?" Kouga asked.

"There was a young Knight near where I lived," Leo answered. "My brother and I... my parents thought we should train, just to know what a Knight did. So we could work with Knights when we grew up." It was leaving some things out, but there were some things he couldn't share, not at the moment.

Kouga gave him a small nod. "We'll be training together," he said. "Be up at five tomorrow."

There was little Leo could do but bnow.


End file.
